Welcome to utilitarian.org!

Introduction... a few questions

This web site is home to the internet based organisation called
utilitarian.org - the aims and objectives of which will be
made clear later. But first, a few questions.

Newcomers, or those who need reminding, might like to know:
what is utility?, or what makes someone a utilitarian?,
or what is utilitarianism?
These are easy questions, and they are answered
here, in many
standard philosophical
texts, and elsewhere.
But, even knowing these things, we may not know - what is more important -
how does a utilitarian live? What lifestyles are
compatible with maximal utility? What does a utilitarian actually do?
(And, perhaps, how does this differ from what he ought do?)

Altruistic action

One of the key ideas being promoted here is the large degree of
altruism
implied by utilitarianism - altruism not
only in an abstract philosophical sense, but real and
concrete altruism: actually going out and doing things to help
others.
(I have attempted to describe why
utilitarianism - when properly applied - is
practically indistinguishable from complete altruism in two papers:
Altruism
and Altruism Revisited.)
To that end, though this site will contain both theoretical and practical
components, it is the essentially practical questions that will form the
focus of our efforts.

Rationale

The people who shape the world - the politicians, the business leaders, and
others - often have little idea of what they ought to do.
We philosophers, who claim to know what ought to be done, often actually
do nothing! Those who do, do not know; those who know, do not do!

This ought to change! There should be a new group of people, who are willing
to do all types of work: to wade through a lengthy and difficult
philosophical text, and then to get their hands dirty mucking out the animals
in the local sanctuary! (Or whichever practical projects they decide to
support.)

To this end, utilitarian.org will host a series of practical project proposals.
Projects will be analysed in terms of their expected utility value, difficulty,
effort and resources required etc, by discussion amongst utilitarians.
(An email list is provided for this purpose.) And, when we feel reasonably
confident of the best of our options, as a group or individually,
we will carry them out.

Initial project ideas include:

creation of a nature reserve

overseas development work

education of the public (in ethical issues).

These are good ideas. The only valid reason we could have for not implementing
these projects is that we are already too busy on even more worthwhile tasks.
Complacency and laziness are not conformable to utility!

So the main purpose of this site is not to discuss what utilitarianism
is, but to suggest (something which is
often covered less well) what the results of applying it are. It will
hopefully be a call to action! - an invitation to all
"armchair-philosophers" to leave their comfortable seating, to get up, out,
and to make the world a better place.